Deserving
by Jeez Louise Woman
Summary: Steve wasn't ready to be assigned babysitting duty. Steve wasn't ready to face a former ally... again. Steve wasn't ready for the blonde agent to kick his ass. Steve definitely wasn't ready to develop feelings for anyone. (Set post-CA:TWS & will include characters from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a few Avengers.)
1. Chapter 1

**OKAY. So. I suck at summaries. I have a forewarning that this won't be updated regularly. My muse is... erratic. Also I have a bunch of stuff going on in my life right now (mostly work and school), so I can't promise many updates.**

**If you want an actress to base Sandy off of, I suggest Victoria Justice, but blonde. And with a looot more muscles. A better description of Sandy will be spread out through the story. And if there's anything that you need cleared up,_ please_ let me know. :)**

**I have a sequel planned, for sure (and I'm already in love with my sequel, even though I have yet to write anything), but I first have to make myself finish this story before I can move on to that one.**

**It's rated T for Sandy's foul mouth, and even though it says Humor as a category, I'm not sure it's too funny. And it doesn't get all that romantic, but if you read between the lines, you'll see plenty of hints. Just gonna tell you that it's going to be a complicated relationship between them, and it will get more complicated as the story progresses (especially in the sequel).**

**Anyway, enjoy! :)**

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><p>"Sandra McIntosh."<p>

"Yes, like the computer. You're not the first person to give me that look and you won't be the last."

There was a slight pause.

"26—"

"That is my listed age."

"'Listed'?!"

"Well, technically speaking, I'm 26 and a three months. But you can just shorten it to 26."

The pause was more irritated this time.

"Qualifications—"

"Look, I know what and who I am and you know who I am; is it really necessary to verbally list off everything on those sheets of paper, Clint?"

Clint Barton didn't miss a beat. "Extremely combat proficient. Extensive training in archery and hand-to-hand combat. Extremely skilled in weaponry—what's actually not on these papers is that you are second only to Natasha and I in all of these categories, and as you said yourself, I don't need to reiterate what you and I already know about yourself."

Sandy heaved a relieved sigh. "Thank you, Hawkeye. Can we get to the real reason you called me in here?"

Clint raised an eyebrow. "I thought you knew that already."

"Just because S.H.I.E.L.D. is in the early stages of rebuilding doesn't mean people don't know how to keep secrets."

"Valid point."

When he didn't immediately continue, Sandy rolled her eyes. "Dude, stop with the whole dramatic façade and tell me what my next mission is."

"But that's the fun part."

"Shut up. Get to the point."

"Are you familiar with Captain America?"

... ~~~~ ...

"I thought it was understood that I don't work for S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore."

"You never worked _for_ us, Captain. You worked _with_ us."

Steve gave Maria Hill a look. "Yeah, well, it always felt the other way."

"You know, maybe I'm not here with a mission. Maybe I just wanted to have lunch with Captain America."

"We're in public. Please don't call me that." Steve surveyed the area. A few people recognized him, but nobody invaded their conversation.

"There's a couple at my 7 taking a photo of us, but we're already all over the news anyway."

Steve wasn't very good at being nonchalant. "You don't sit across from me with that look on your face unless you have a mission in mind or something."

Hill smirked. "Nothing gets past you."

"I was frozen for 70 years. There are several things that get past me."

The smirk grew. "So, we just need you to protect this asset." She handed him a file.

Steve said nothing until he finished skimming through the file. "Why are you assigning _me_ babysitting duty?"

"It's not babysitting. It's a protection detail. She can't really protect herself against these people. But don't tell her I said that."

"I'm kind of on my own mission."

"Yes, the Winter Soldier. We're well aware of that. How's that going so far?"

Maria was patronizing him. Steve merely stared. She knew exactly how that was going: it wasn't. He hadn't had a decent lead in months. Sam was incredibly helpful, but they still weren't any closer than they had been six months ago.

"Why can't Natasha or Stark or someone—"

"The people who are after her… They're not someone Romanoff or Stark can handle by themselves." Maria narrowed her eyes. "And do you really think _Stark_ is someone we'd consider for protection detail? We had to send Romanoff to keep an eye on _him_."

"What makes you think I can handle these people by myself?"

"That super soldier serum you got injected with."

Steve shrugged.

Maria's tone softened. "Look, Steve, I came to HQ with the idea that she should have the best protection we can offer her. And you've been on this wild goose chase with Sam for the past six months, and it's gotten you nowhere. When Bucky wants to be found, he'll let you know. Until then, you have nothing to do and I know it's driving you nuts."

"I'm adjusting to 21st Century life."

"You did that adjusting a long time ago. You are lonely, and while Sam's good company, I think you need a normal human being in your life. Someone who can remind you of what it's like to be a normal American citizen."

"Aside from the whole 'dangerous people are out to get her' situation." He looked at a page and added as an aside, "And… extensive training in… everything. How is she any more normal than Sam?"

"You're being awfully defiant today."

After a moment, Steve bowed his head. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. Hill was just trying to help, and he knew it. "Maybe I do need a break from trying to find Bucky. It's just—"

"I know, Cap."

Steve gave a small smile. "So, how long is my protection detail, and what makes her an asset?"

"This assignment is only until we can find the people targeting her and bring them to trial."

Steve gave Maria a look. "Trial? That's not the S.H.I.E.L.D. way I remember."

"Well, in light of recent events, we've become more… civilized." The word didn't taste right to Maria, and Steve could certainly sense that.

"Sounds about right. Now what makes her an asset?"

"It's all in the file right there. It's on the page with her picture. Pretty, isn't she?"

Steve opened his mouth, but Hill interrupted.

"I've been in S.H.I.E.L.D. for years. I can tell when someone sees something they like. I also know that's the only thing you remembered from that page."

Steve's brow furrowed. She'd caught him. He flipped open the file again. "Sandra McIntosh."

"Come on. She's waiting for you at Clint's office."

"… Barton has an office?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Sandy.**

**Also, things in this chapter and the next might get a little confusing, so if you see any plot holes or things that don't make sense, I'll be glad to fix it/explain it. :)**

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><p>"He's 'protecting' me?!"<p>

Clint figured she'd react this way. "Sort of. He's under the guise that _that_ is what he's being assigned."

"I sense a 'but' coming on. And not your literal butt. Which is pretty nice, I've gotta add."

"Stop hitting on your CO." Clint paused. "And yes, there is a 'but' to that. You've pissed off some awfully powerful people."

Sandy muttered, "He started it."

A stern look shut her up. "Look, you are incredibly valuable to S.H.I.E.L.D. You always have been. But even more so now that our staff has been trimmed down to almost nothing. We just want to protect you."

"And Steve Rogers is my best bet at staying alive, so you think. Also, the staff is not 'almost nothing' now. We still have a shit load of people."

Barton opened his mouth, but Sandy continued talking.

"What in the hell makes you think I can't protect myself? Or that it's gonna take this long to find them?"

"_You_ can protect yourself just fine. Captain Rogers is vulnerable right now."

"Wait, what? I thought _he_ was being assigned to protect _me_? What the fuck is _actually_ going on, Agent Barton?"

Clint sighed. Sandy had an IQ well above 160, but she was extra difficult when she wanted to be. "Captain Rogers thinks that he's protecting you, and he sort of is. Think of him as a partner, but don't let him think of you as one. Let him think he's protecting a valuable asset. One that can handle herself under normal circumstances, which these are not. That's what Hill has told him. You are essentially keeping each other company until we get things back under control."

"Why isn't everything under control already?!" McIntosh interrupted. "The intel I gave you should have led you straight to them after my cover was blown."

"What, you don't think we've checked every safe house in their database, contacted every known associate, done everything we can so far to find them?"

Sandy didn't answer at first, embarrassed. She had rashly assumed they were taking things lightly and casually going after Crossbones and his followers. S.H.I.E.L.D. had bigger problems than her safety, or so she thought.

"…No," she said in a near-whisper.

"You know, McIntosh, for someone with a genius-level IQ, you can be pretty damn dense sometimes."

Sandy opened her mouth to object, suddenly irate, when the door to Clint's office opened. Upon seeing the look on both Clint and Sandy's faces, Maria knew Sandy hadn't taken the news well.

"Am I interrupting something?" Hill asked.

"No," Sandy said definitively.

"Good." Maria turned to Steve, who was standing behind her, and ushered him into the room. "Captain, this is Agent McIntosh."

Sandy shook Steve's outstretched hand with a delighted grin. At the sight of her smile, Clint raised his eyebrows. There wasn't a trace of the anger he had seen moments ago. _She isn't top of her class for nothing._

"So, if we're going to be living together for God knows how long, I feel like there's a few things you should know about me that aren't in my file," Sandy began.

"Oh Lord." Clint ran his hand across his face and sighed.

Maria patted Steve on the shoulder before she left the room. "Good luck."

Steve was suddenly very confused and worried. What exactly had he signed up for?

Sandy continued. "So I don't have a lot of off days, but when I do, I like to sit at my apartment and either sleep or watch old movies. Some days I head out to Times Square or Central Park and people watch. I also like to visit the zoo. It's a bitch to get out there from my apartment but it's worth it. I fuckin' love animals."

Steve was taken aback at her casual swearing. But she kept talking.

"And the other days that aren't my off days but I'm not out on missions, I train. Pretty much the whole damn day. Like, from sun up to around 5. I mean, I obviously eat between then, because if I didn't, I'd probably faint or something. Or die. And I kinda don't want to do that. So your babysitting should be easy on those days. I'll be in one place the whole day."

"Sandy, I think you need to stop talking," Clint said, giving Sandy a look.

"Why? It's better he know these things beforehand so they don't come as a surprise later on."

"He doesn't need your whole life story, which is what you'll end up telling him if we let you keep talking."

"That's not true. I mean, yeah, I talk a lot, but nobody knows my life story. Not even you. I mean, you know what's pertinent information, but that's only because you're my CO."

"Hang on a second, Agent Barton is your CO?" Steve inquired.

"Yep! Clint and Tasha trained me for the most part. I mean other people trained me in certain disciplines, but for the most part, I trained under Tasha and Clint."

"That explains a lot." Steve blinked, processing the information. So far, she seemed nothing like Black Widow and Hawkeye. In fact, she seemed more like Stark except younger and slightly more annoying. Which made him wonder…

"Are you friends with Stark?"

"That is a story you can tell on the other side of my office door. I have work to do," Clint insisted, all but pushing Sandy out his door. "Have fun, you two. And if you get a headache from her, I have Advil in my drawer, and you're welcome to as much of it as you want," he said, looking directly at Steve before shutting the door.

Steve narrowed his eyes slightly and turned to Sandy. "I kind of want to hear this story."

"Good, cause I was gonna tell it whether you wanted to hear it or not." She began walking down the corridor. "Although, it's not one cohesive story. It's kind of just…" She motioned as if she was playing an imaginary accordion. She gave a quick shake of her head and continued, more upbeat this time. "Yes, we know each other. We met shortly after the whole New York catastrophe. He teamed up with S.H.I.E.L.D. to offer technological insight to the guys fixing the Helicarrier. And, well, you saw those things up close."

"Unfortunately."

She grimaced. "Yeah, now that I think about it, it would've been better had he not offered any advice. Then again, we might not have ever discovered HYDRA. Or it would have been waaaay too late when we did. Anyway, I happened to be helping out with the computer system part of them. So we collaborated and came up with some pretty kickass schematics. Which, again, sounds horrible now that I'm saying all this to you." She stopped walking and looked at him, ashamed.

Steve stopped alongside her. His voice was gentle. "It's all right. Continue."

She shrugged. "Well, we kept in touch, and since he wouldn't trust Romanoff and he seemed to like me, Fury assigned me to keep tabs on him. Even though he spends a lot of time in Malibu, it wasn't hard to stay close. He'd invite me out to show me his new toys and so we could talk super genius stuff. Cause I like that stuff."

"Yeah, you double majored in Engineering and Computer Science with a Psychology minor at Stanford. And you were on their gymnastics team. Which, I have to ask, how did you manage that?"

"Well, S.H.I.E.L.D. approached me when I was 16, which is when I graduated high school, and said they wanted to recruit me into the agency. They said I could choose to go to college, which they would fund completely, as long as I joined them after I was done with school. Both of us figured I'd be more useful that way. Plus, I'd always wanted to go to college for free. So, at 20, I officially joined S.H.I.E.L.D."

She completely avoided his major question. It didn't allow Steve any insight into her personal life. He chalked that up to her training as an undercover agent. He was still curious, so he ignored all but one question swirling in his mind. "S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't usually send more than one person for recruitment. Who recruited you?"

Sandy looked up at Steve, who towered above her. "Coulson, actually."

Steve looked back at her and saw the distant and melancholy look in her and rich blue-green eyes. He took that opportunity to study her face rather than dwell on memories of a good man who had given his life for the cause. She had sandy-blonde hair and a tan that most women would kill for. _That is just beyond ironic_. She looked much younger than 26, but he guessed that was because she hadn't seen the horrors of the battlefield. He hoped she never would. Her small smile quickly turned into a deep frown.

"Hey, stop trying to analyze me."

"What?"

"I'm not stupid. I know that look." She looked away from him and continued down the hall at a slightly faster pace.

In a few short strides, Steve caught up with her. He matched her swift pace with ease. "Well, I'm going to be spending a lot of time with you apparently, so I'd like to know a little more about you."

"Ah, well, that, my friend, is where we have a problem. You must be a level four friend to unlock my tragic backstory. Which, isn't really all that tragic, but don't worry about that just yet."

Steve stared at her, befuddled.

Sandy changed her tone. "Oh, sorry. That wasn't a specific reference or anything. I was just saying the whole 'level four' thing as a reference to video games in general. You know, that's generally about the level where one of the other main characters or an important side character gives his or her tragic backstory, especially in the adventure type video games."

"I'm not a little kid, but thanks for the explanation."

"Have you been introduced to video games yet?"

"Vaguely, yes."

"Okay well at some point we'll sit down and play some of the cooler ones. Like _Halo_. Or _Kingdom Hearts_ or—" Sandy suddenly gasped very loudly. She lowered her voice and narrowed her eyes at him. "Wait, have you been introduced to _Disney_ yet?"

Steve's eyes widened. He was a bit offended. "I'm not _that_ old!"

"I mean, I don't know what you do and don't know! And Disney is a very important movie and television franchise. What have you seen?"

He was reluctant to answer. He'd known about Disney, he just hadn't sat down and watched anything since re-entering the world. "_Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs_ and _Pinocchio_. I saw those in the theater."

Sandy took a rather dramatic step back, putting her hand over her heart. "You've been unfrozen for nearly three years now and you haven't watched anything more recently?" He gave a small shrug as his answer. "Oh, child, you have so much to catch up on."

_Child? Oh, boy._ "I think I should probably dread this."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Sandy.**

**Again, if things get confusing, let me know! :)**

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><p>Sandy, hell bent on showing Steve all of the important Disney movies, decided to drag the super soldier back to her apartment. Clint had granted her the rest of the day off and shot Steve an apologetic look before closing his office door once more. Steve was beginning to wonder exactly why they'd chosen to assign him the job. He knew nothing about the people who were after her or what had happened. He didn't like that one bit. S.H.I.E.L.D. should know that he, of all their agents, was the one person who had a problem with major secrets and compartmentalization.<p>

"You know, for an organization that wants to get in everyone's good graces again, S.H.I.E.L.D. sure is keeping their fair share of secrets."

Steve hadn't realized he'd said anything until Sandy raised an eyebrow at him, taking her attention away from the street ahead of them. "Well, Cap, it's not like we're a fucking open book for everyone on the planet to read." Her tone wasn't severe. "As an intelligence organization, we have to have our secrets. People still trust the CIA, but that's because they didn't have a major infiltration by a scum organization like HYDRA. We did. And you think this would mean we'd have to be said open book. However, if we want to protect the world, at the risk of sounding cheesy, we have to have our own fair share of secrets. We're just trying to be a bit more like the CIA. Maybe we can gain the trust of civilians again. Maybe one day, when this all blows over and becomes a thing in the history books, we can be mentioned in the same breath as the CIA and FBI and be generally ignored by the public. It's an odd goal, but it's what's best for everyone. Before we can do that, we have to take out HYDRA, and that's going to require everyone 'keeping their fair share of secrets,' Steve."

She turned to look at him completely, her face serious and… apologetic?

"I'm sorry to drag you away from your search for Sergeant Barnes. He is important to bringing down the rest of HYDRA, and I know he's important to you personally. You've been through some shit in your life, and you deserve to have someone you love and trust by your side. You don't deserve to be stuck babysitting an agent who can handle herself just because my bosses think you need a distraction. I blew my cover prematurely, and this is my fault. You shouldn't have to be dragged into it. And for that, I'm truly sorry."

They had stopped walking when she mentioned Bucky. He didn't want to think about Bucky, not when he couldn't go looking for him. He didn't need to think about Bucky at all. It had been the only thing on his mind since the Helicarrier incident, and it was eating him alive. He barely slept, and he was beginning to lose touch with reality. Sam and Hill had been right; Bucky would let Steve know when he wanted to be found. Steve desperately _needed_ a distraction. Her distraction.

"So tell me more about Stark. How has he been since New York?"

Sandy knew she'd struck a chord with him when she brought up Barnes. At least she knew that he didn't want to talk about it. She wasn't going to push him when he wasn't ready. She could be patient. "Well," she began, starting down the street again. "He had surgery to remove the shrapnel that was lodged in his chest. The surgery went fine, and he seems to have his life in order. You know he took in Hill—"

Steve's tone was calm. "I know. And he hired a few other agents."

Sandy nodded. "Yep. He's mainly living in Stark Tower here now. We can go see him, if you want?"

"Do the people know of your affiliation with him?"

Sandy didn't respond immediately. When she finally did, Steve could hear the resentment in her voice. "Yes."

"Then we probably shouldn't. They might be looking for you there."

She resisted saying that they'd be looking for him there as well. "Good point. We're at my apartment building anyway." She slid her card at the front door, allowing them access. She had warned Steve not to speak once they entered the building, so he didn't. Steve knew you could never be too careful, but he thought Sandy might be taking that to heart a little too much. Before they left the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Sandy had put on the digital mask Natasha had used to infiltrate the World Security Council and a brunette wig. The mask made Sandy look like a high school student with a slight acne problem. Steve was always impressed with just how advanced S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tech was. He wondered if she had helped design those as well. He waited until they entered her apartment—which she deemed was safe after the device in her hand showed no signs of bugs—to ask her.

"So did you design those mask things?"

She shook her head as she peeled it off carefully. "Nah. These things have been around for a couple of years, but we have so very few because the guys who developed them were in a base that got blown to bits by an air strike missile in France."

"The Paris bombings." Steve had watched the news coverage a few weeks after he'd woken up. Nobody knew why or who carried out the bombings, but they had killed several thousand people. It was a _fantastic_ thing for Steve to experience after 70 years on ice.

"That happened right after you came to, right?"

"Yeah. They told me the world was better off today. That proved the complete opposite." He waited a beat before speaking again. "So the whole Mandarin ordeal. You said you were keeping tabs on Tony. Were you in California when—"

Sandy took on a somber tone. "No. God, I wish I had been. Maybe I could have done something to prevent his house getting blown to bits. I was actually on my way there when Happy got put in the hospital and Tony's mansion blew up."

Steve mulled that over for a moment. "I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. planes were faster than commercial aircraft. Why'd it take so long?"

She leapt over the back of her couch and landed softly on the cushions. She kicked her shoes off and stretched out before answering Steve. "I took a commercial flight. He didn't know I was coming, and I had planned to keep it that way. If I took a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft there, Jarvis would have alerted him as soon as I entered the state. I wasn't going to see them for a while, so I figured I'd relax a little before I went undercover on my next assignment. But I got there too late. Pepper wasn't answering my calls, and I freaked out. I thought she had died. I hated myself for so long, convinced that if I'd just told them I was coming or if I'd left a little sooner, I could have maybe somehow prevented everything that followed soon after. But—" she sighed, sounding relieved. "Tony handled it by himself as usual. 'Course, I didn't learn about all of that until I got back in the States, and at that point, all the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who didn't die in the Helicarrier incident were in hiding, so I couldn't talk to anyone about it."

"Weren't your covers blown, too?"

Sandy had been staring at the TV—which had remained off—while she told the story. She looked at Steve with an amused smile at his question. "The only reason that you even know as much about me as you do is because you would have learned it eventually by being around me, so I figured you might as well know right off the bat." She curled her legs underneath her and rested her head on the back of the couch to fully face Steve, who hadn't moved from the front door. "I'm a little bit paranoid and overly cautious. Any computer system can be hacked, no matter how advanced or how many firewalls said system has. When I finally joined S.H.I.E.L.D., I requested that all of my information, all of the covers I would eventually have, be kept out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system. I had them create a completely new identity for me so that my cover would never truly be blown." She pointed to the digital mask she had left on the desk by the door. "That's why I wear that out in public. In fact, I would wear it inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Only Tasha, Clint, Coulson, Fury, and Hill knew what my actual face looked like. While I was being trained, I wouldn't wear the mask. Because only they would train me. I never did regular boot camp like all other new agents have to. Because I already was an accomplished gymnast and I knew how to kick box, I started off more advanced than the new recruits anyway."

Steve's face scrunched. "You competed in a nationally televised sport. With the Internet, how'd you manage to not get recognized?"

Sandy grinned. "S.H.I.E.L.D. values me over 98% of their staff. So any pictures or videos of Sandy McIntosh that wound up on the internet… well, it isn't the same pretty face that you're looking at right now."

"Plastic surgery?" Steve had very little knowledge of that subject, but it usually meant that people could change their appearance permanently.

Sandy let out a high pitched giggle. "No, silly. Well, actually, it's not that silly because it's very plausible. But with that mask, I don't need anything drastic like plastic surgery. No, S.H.I.E.L.D. simply digitally altered my face in the videos and pictures."

It was beginning to make sense to Steve just why Hill wanted his protection. "And people don't know about that now? Wasn't that leaked with the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s data?"

"Not if it was done off the record," Sandy practically sang.

"Why did you need the super secrecy? I don't think Natasha has used that much cover up in her missions."

"Well, she was kept a big government secret before they started digitizing everything anyway. And in the past few years, she hasn't done _that _many undercover missions, or ones that went that deep, anyway. She's just been running missions like you guys did for the most part. Or ones where her cover was _supposed_ to be blown."

"So why did you need to be kept the country's biggest secret?" Steve regretted the question the moment it left his mouth. He was afraid it had come off as harsh. Sandy, however, didn't seem to think so.

"Because I run very deep undercover. I gather intel that can only be gathered if there's no fear of my true identity being uncovered."

Steve nodded, beginning to understand. Her true identity was still a secret, but he wondered if her true identity was the one she was telling him.

"Is anything in that file true? Is Sandy really your name?"

Sandy sensed that he was beginning to trust her even less. Not exactly what she wanted. "Yes. Everything in that file is true, I promise. If you don't believe me, you can ask Fury," she said honestly.

"Fury is dead," Steve tried.

Sandy laughed again. "Bullshit. I know all about that." She waved her hand dismissively.

Steve's eyebrow arched. "Figures. So Barton and Romanoff trained you that extensively because you were going to go deep undercover."

"Correct. And if things went south, I'd have no extraction plan. I had to get out of it myself. I wanted it that way. I only want to have to rely on myself. I am an almost literal master of disguise and jack of all trades."

"I'm assuming that has something to do with your codename."

Sandy's smile widened, much to Steve's amazement. "Indeed, Captain. I came up with Proteus myself. Proteus was a Greek god of the sea and a myriad of other bodies of water who could change his appearance into anything basically. It's a lot like water itself. The water changes its shape to match its container. I adapt to whatever the situation calls for. I can be whoever and whatever the agency needs me to be."

Steve didn't speak right away. His mind ran over every possible event she could have been directly involved with. He wondered if she had been under his nose the whole time, or if she'd been a world away, silently taking down corrupt governments like Natasha had done. As he processed the information, Sandy shifted her attention back to the television she had just turned on. She flipped a few channels until she found a nature show. She was aware of Steve's eyes on her, but she ignored it. She had given him a lot of information to process, and it wasn't even everything she was going to have to tell him. When Steve's silence had been long enough, Sandy finally interrupted his thoughts.

"So, do you want to watch the Disney movies in chronological order or importance?"

Steve was jerked back to reality. He blinked several times and was finally able to register what she had asked. _Right. Disney movies. How old is she again?_ "How about chronological? Might be easier for me to follow."

"Excellent choice."


	4. Chapter 4

**Enjoy, lovelies!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Sandy!**

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><p>They had spent the remainder of the night watching movies. They had finished through <em>Alice in Wonderland<em>, which made Steve's head hurt more than he thought a simple Disney movie could. He asked Sandy what was going on in the filmmakers' brains. She had replied that it was really the author of the book who seemed to be on drugs. Sandy seemed to like the movie, though she seemed to understand it less than Steve. Why, Steve wasn't entirely sure.

Sandy's apartment was modest, but it had a nice guest bedroom. It looked like it was frequently used, and there were a few empty glasses scattered about the room. Hill had required the two to share a living space for the assignment. It made Steve more than a little nervous. He had never lived with a woman besides his mother. Thank God Sandy lived in the apartment she did.

Steve didn't sleep well. It was the best sleep he'd had in months, but that wasn't saying much. Sometimes he went days without sleep. His _need_ to find Bucky had all but overwhelmed him, and when he did sleep, he was plagued with memories of his former life. Some happy, some sad. The most frequent memory, and the reason Steve didn't like to sleep, was of Steve waking up in the hospital after the worst alley beating in his life. Bucky was at his bedside, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep and bruising indicative of Buck's thirst for revenge. Once Bucky realized Steve was awake, he said, "I think that guy actually had the edge on you." His signature smirk crept onto his features, but his eyes were filled with a mixture of relief and terror. Steve wasn't an idiot. He could see Bucky had been scared that his best friend might actually have been beaten to death.

Steve hated that memory after everything that had happened six months ago. It was a constant reminder of how many times Bucky had saved Steve's life. The guilt was crushing. He loved Bucky so much, and he couldn't save him. At least not back then.

Steve was determined to save him now.

He heard Sandy's alarm at 4 am sharp. He'd already been awake for an hour, but he allowed her to think she was waking him up. At least, he tried.

"I know you're already awake. I heard you moving around earlier," she said through the door.

Steve arched his eyebrow. Had _she_ slept at all? He got dressed and wandered around the apartment as Sandy showered. There wasn't much to see, save for a few movies and books. Disney and cheesy romance novels, surprisingly enough. Steve wondered if she liked to make fun of the romance novels. _A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man_ was one of the classics on the bookshelves. He had read that in school. He liked it. He moved away from the bookshelf and onto the entertainment center. She had several picture frames scattered around, but she wasn't in any of them. The pictures were mostly of landscapes. In one, there was a group that looked like it could be her family. They looked vaguely like Sandy, but Steve wondered if this was just a clever tactic she'd used.

"That is in fact my family."

Steve jerked his head in the direction of the voice and found Sandy leaning against the doorframe. Her hair was perfectly braided in a style Steve couldn't name. He figured that was useful in combat, seeing as not a single strand was loose. She had on a tight pair of yoga pants (a fad that Steve secretly appreciated) that flared at the bottom and a simple white V-neck. She was on the verge of a smile.

"Is that the closest I'm going to get to your personal life?" he asked softly.

She did smile. "In due time." She walked to the door and put on her digital mask and slipped on her tennis shoes while Steve merely watched her. He wasn't sure what to make of her statement.

"So, you ready to go? I've got this breakfast place I'd like to stop at on the way to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"At four in the morning?"

"It's almost five now, Rogers."

That much time had flown by? Well, Steve couldn't say he was that surprised. His concept of time had been so out of balance since DC. He nodded in response and followed her out the door. Per her request the day before, he didn't say anything while leaving the building.

Once they were out on the street, Sandy asked, "You're not going to get a flock of fan girls, are you?"

His laugh was soft and low. "I can't promise anything." He hadn't encountered any in quite some time. At least he had escaped _that_ on his quest.

She advised him what was good at the breakfast place, and he had to say that she had good taste. After eating, they made their way to S.H.I.E.L.D., which was an abandoned building in a sketchy part of New York. Rather, it was under a building in a sketchy part of New York. Steve didn't enjoy the trek there. It was still rather dark outside, so Steve found himself scanning every alley way and staying close enough to Sandy that he bumped her shoulder several times.

"Dude, relax. Nobody's going to try and mug Captain America," she said, giving him a sidelong glance.

"Sorry, force of habit." He didn't stop casing the area. After all, he had been assigned to protect. What good was he doing if he didn't keep a cautious eye out?

Throughout the walk, Steve had tried asking personal questions, hoping she'd give him some semblance of just why she was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. She vaguely answered, and Steve was no closer to understanding her. He was getting frustrated, so he stopped asking and chose to say nothing at all. He understood why she was so closed off, but it still didn't make their dynamic any less awkward. She knew enough about him, so he figured it'd only be fair for him to learn a little about her. Thankfully for Steve, they arrived without incident.

Sandy wasn't kidding when she said that she spent all day working out. Steve couldn't remember knowing of anyone who worked out in a week as much as she did in a single day. The only time she took a legitimate break was to have an hour long lunch. When she had initially changed into her workout clothes—a sports bra and a pair of Nike shorts—Steve hadn't believed exactly how someone so small could have so much muscle mass. He had seen pictures of female body builders, and they terrified him. If it hadn't been for the serum, he was sure they would have been able to easily break him in two. He hadn't particularly liked that look on those women. (He had been informed on several occasions that women tended to not care what men thought nowadays; so Steve let people do as they pleased.) Steve liked proportions; it made things easier to draw, and he appreciated when things were easy to sketch. The female body builders were very disproportionate. Tall, but disproportionate.

Sandy, however, was not. She had the perfect mix of muscle for her tiny frame, something. She said she worked out until 5, and it was only 2. She just finished her _200__th_ bench press after several bodybuilder-esque routines. What the hell else did she have planned? He raised an eyebrow, incredulous. He worked out, sure, but it wasn't the same as she did. He had to use heavier items in order to feel like he was getting any work done. The serum gave him the muscles, but building upon them was never a bad idea. Besides, working out helped to clear his head. After finally watching _Rocky_, he decided that a train yard was as good a place as any to workout. Sam told him that he was ridiculous, that _normal_ people don't do that. Steve had simply laughed. Nothing about his life had ever been normal, so why should that be any different?

What Sandy was doing—was it the way a normal person worked out?

Steve didn't have long to ponder that thought. The sound of a girl laughing soon filled the former hanger. "Wh—" Before he could finish, the sound of a saxophone and the same girl saying "Jason Derulo" answered his question. He'd heard this song on the radio and over loudspeakers in public. He rolled his eyes. This song was ridiculous. Sandy didn't seem to think so, however. She made her way over to the uneven bars while singing the song. Steve grumbled to himself quietly. Why couldn't they listen to more of the music that she'd played earlier? He liked that band—what had she called them? Huey Lewis and the News? She'd told him, "Google them. You'll like their songs."

He opted to do that instead of listen to the dirty song she was playing. He read about the band until Sandy spoke up.

"Not a big fan of the song?"

Steve looked in the direction her voice had come from. He found her in a handstand on the taller of the two bars. He watched as she spun around the bar and flipped to the shorter bar with ease. "Not really, no."

"Figured as much. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the songs on this playlist that aren't Little Mix are probably going to be rap. You can wander around the base if you want to. I'll be here for a couple more hours."

"Little Mix?"

"A girl band. You might like their music, actually."

Steve nodded. He liked most of female singers whose songs she'd played. Except for that one song called "Black Widow" or something. She'd laughed upon seeing his face contorted in disgust. "I don't like Iggy either, but this song is bomb," she'd said. For the hundredth time, he'd asked just how she wasn't related to Stark.

"You can always help me train, if you think walking around the base is too boring."

Steve raised an eyebrow and watched Sandy dismount from the top bar, flipping an ungodly number of times in the air before landing on her feet. She looked at him for a moment before catching his question.

"Oh, come on. You don't think I can go toe-to-toe with you?"

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to. I can tell that's what you're thinking, Captain Rogers. The only agents that can beat me in this whole organization are Nat and Clint. And that's because they _trained_ me. The only way you could seriously hurt me is if you put too much behind a kick or punch or if you threw me across the room. Those two can't do that, but that's because you're a one-of-a-kind super soldier. Or, is it that you're afraid of little ole me?"

Steve chuckled.

"What do you say, Rogers? I haven't done hand-to-hand combat in… too long. I'm training some new recruits in a few days, and I don't wanna be too rusty. Come on, bro."

"Bro?" Steve asked, confused. He hadn't heard that one before. "You know what, never mind. Not gonna ask." Steve deliberated for a moment, not taking his eyes away from Sandy's. Her eyes bore into his soul, and he was slightly unnerved. He knew she could tell what he was thinking. If she was as good as she claimed, he wouldn't have to worry about hurting her too much. If he kept himself in check, he'd have nothing to worry about. Besides, he'd been itching for a good sparring match, even though he'd never openly admit it.

"Why not?" Steve finally said, smiling playfully.

"Yes! Oh God, it's been too long," Sandy shouted, grinning excitedly. She bounced over to the large training mat in the center of the room and took her place in the middle. "Don't you fucking dare try and take it easy on me because I'm a girl. You saw my files, and you're looking at me right now. If I sense you're not really trying, I will not hesitate to beat you senseless, Steve Rogers. You treat me as your equal." She was smiling, but her tone was deadly serious.

Steve admired how fearless she was. It was the first time he'd been asked to spar with someone, and he was well aware of the reasons why. He took off his jacket, revealing a tight standard issue black S.H.I.E.L.D. shirt he'd received upon agreeing to join. He wasn't thrilled about fighting in jeans, but he would have to make do. He watched Sandy carefully as he took his own place on the mat, wondering if she knew exactly what she was in for. As he saw her muscles tense in anticipation and her eyes focus on his, he wondered if _he_ knew what he was in for.

As soon as the fists started flying, he knew he was almost outmatched. She moved with deadly precision, landing several powerful punches in his gut or chest. She was a flurry of blonde hair and fists. Instincts never die, and for several moments, it was all Steve was running on. She attacked with such ferocity and agility that all Steve could manage to do was block. When she began using her legs and trying to take his feet out from under him, his training started to kick in. He blocked more efficiently and began landing soft blows on her. He was careful where he placed them, not wanting to send her flying across the mat. Although, he wondered if it would have fazed her as much as it would a normal person. As the fight got longer, she began to use her agile body as the weapon he knew it could be. She latched onto one of his forearms and twisted around behind him, taking his arm with her. She kicked out the back of his knee, sending him down. Before she could take him completely down, he swung the other leg around and knocked her off balance, pivoting on the kicked-out knee. She managed to somersault in the air and landed on one knee. Wasting no time, she took the leg he'd used to kick her and, with surprising strength, lifted and flipped Steve onto his back. She stood quickly and took a step back, allowing him to ready himself again.

Steve stayed on the ground, in shock for a moment. He was having flashbacks to fighting Bucky. He had to push those down. This wasn't the time for that. He slowly stood and locked eyes with Sandy. He'd have to step up his game a bit. She wasn't playing around. She stood casually with her hands on her hips, though he could see her muscles were taut under her smooth skin. "Ready for Round 2?" he asked.

She smirked playfully and began the onslaught once more. She began to behave more like Natasha, though she didn't go for the obvious kills like Steve knew Nat would. Instead, she opted to try and get as many hits in as she could. What she lacked in strength—which wasn't much, Steve noted—she made up for in agility. Steve was a quick learner, however. When she tried was Steve guessed was the same move she'd used to take him down before, he quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and flipped her over his shoulder and behind him. She hit the ground on her back, and before Steve could turn around, she knocked out both of his legs and rolled into a standing position. He quickly stood up again and faced her. He eyed her warily, wondering why she hadn't made a move while he had been incapacitated.

She saw the question behind his eyes and answered. "If this was a real fight to the death, I probably would have stabbed you in the neck or something. But it's not." She paused for a beat. "Again."

Steve gave one quick nod before he initiated Round 3. They both moved even faster. Sandy's past as a gymnast began to shine through. She used him as her personal uneven bars until Steve was able to knock her to the ground. Once she regained her footing, she began kicking and punching harder than before. She was able to grab a hold of one of Steve's wrists as he went for a punch. Using his momentum, she pulled him forward and away from her. Steve was suddenly off balance. He involuntarily reached out his other hand to steady himself. Sandy grabbed that wrist and pulled both arms down towards the ground. She then laid her back against the mat and brought her feet up to Steve's abdomen. He knew exactly what she was about to do, but he could do nothing to stop it. Her legs pushed against Steve as hard as she could, rolling up onto her shoulder blades as she did so. She released his wrists as Steve flew backwards onto the mat. He landed, hard. He quickly rolled over and managed to stand up. As he was recovering, Sandy had popped back up and began charging at him. Once he had regained his footing and focused on her, it was too late. She was already in the air, coming at him legs first. She wrapped her legs around his neck, and using her momentum once more, leaned back towards the ground. Steve grabbed a hold of her legs, but not before she sent him flying through the air in the direction she had come from. He landed on his back with another hard thud. He felt the air leave his lungs sharply. Once he regained his breath, he looked at Sandy. She stood several feet from him, hands on her hips again. She was amused. He took a few seconds to process exactly what had happened.

She had flipped him _in the air_ and thrown him onto the mat. With no weapons of any kind, she had literally taken him down.

"You're _second_ to Hawkeye and Black Widow? How?" Steve said, panting harder than he had in a long time. He didn't bother getting off the ground just yet.

Sandy, also panting heavily, replied between breaths. "They keep telling me I'm too flashy." She sounded a little embarrassed. "I could take down opponents several moves sooner, but I like to show off. I sort of can't help it. They get kinda mad when they have to keep telling me, but I just… It's a gymnastics thing that's drilled into you, and old habits die hard."

Steve nodded, sitting up. He definitely saw where they got that notion of showing off. He turned to face her and found that she had taken a seat on the mat. She looked exhausted, yet pleased. He mirrored his expression and a silent understanding took place. He was sure that if she'd had weapons, she would have killed him in battle. If he'd been allowed to used his shield and put his full force behind the punches, maybe he would have survived. He wondered if he shouldn't spar with her daily. It could be a symbiotic relationship. Steve knew he needed more of those in his life, even if this one was only for combat purposes. He was still unsure about this woman, but he sure was glad she seemed to be on his side.

"That was—" Steve began.

"I know." Sandy smiled proudly. "You, too."

Steve couldn't help the smile that came over his lips. When her smile turned into a toothy grin, they both began to laugh. It was the first real laugh he'd had in a long time.

Maybe she could teach him how to be normal again.


End file.
